BHAGAVAD GITA

Conversation 5. The Yoga of Renunciation/Actions

Table of Contents

Chapter 4 - Chapter 6


  • Arjuna said:
    O Krishna, You praise transcendental knowledge
    And also performance of unattached action.
    Tell me, definitely, which one is better of the two.


  • Krishna said:
    Karma-Samnyasa, and Karma-yoga
    Both lead to the Supreme.
    But, of the two, Karma-yoga
    Is superior to Karma-Samnyasa.


  • A person should be considered a true Samnyasi
    Or renunciant who neither likes nor dislikes.
    Because, free from the dualities, O Arjuna,
    One is easily liberated from bondage.


  • The ignorant, not the wise, consider Karma-Samnyasa
    And Karma-yoga as different from each other.
    The person who has truly mastered one,
    Gets the benefits of both.


  • Whatever goal a Samnyasi reaches,
    A Karma-yogi also reaches the same goal.
    One who sees the path of renunciation
    And the path of work as the same, really sees.


  • But Samnyasa, O Arjuna,
    Is difficult to attain without Karma-yoga.
    A Karma-yogi sage quickly attains Brahman.


  • A Karma-yogi whose mind is pure,
    Whose mind and senses are under control,
    And who sees one and the same Self in all beings,
    Is not bound though engaged in work.


  • A Samnyasi who knows the truth thinks:
    I do nothing at all.
    For in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling,
    Eating, walking, sleeping, breathing; and


  • Speaking, giving, taking,
    opening and closing the eyes,
    A Samnyasi believes that only the senses
    Are operating upon their sense objects.


  • One who does all work
    As an offering to the Lord,
    Abandoning attachment to the results,
    Is as untouched by sin
    As a lotus leaf is untouched by water.


  • A Karma-yogi performs action
    By body, mind, intellect, and senses,
    Without attachment,
    Only for self-purification.


  • A Karma-yogi, abandoning the fruit of work,
    Attains Supreme Bliss while others,
    Who are attached to the fruits of work,
    Become bound by selfish work.


  • A person who has subdued the senses
    And completely renounced all works,
    Dwells happily in the City of Nine Gates,
    Neither performing nor directing action.


  • The Lord neither creates the urge for action
    Nor the feeling of doership
    Nor the attachment to the results of action.
    All these are done by the Gunas.


  • The Lord does not take
    The good or evil deeds of anybody.
    The knowledge is covered by ignorance,
    Thereby people are deluded.


  • But their knowledge,
    Whose ignorance is destroyed by Self-knowledge,
    Reveals the Supreme like the sun.


  • They, whose mind and intellect
    Are absorbed in the Self,
    Who remain firmly attached with the Self,
    Who have Self as their supreme goal,
    whose sins have been destroyed by the knowledge,
    Do not take birth again.


  • An enlightened person
    Looks at a learned and humble Braahmana,
    An outcast, even a cow, an elephant,
    Or a dog with an equal eye.


  • Everything has been accomplished in this very life
    By those whose mind is set in equality.
    Such a person has realized Brahman
    Because Brahman is flawless and impartial.


  • One who neither rejoices
    On obtaining what is pleasant
    Nor grieves on obtaining the unpleasant,
    Who is undeluded, who has a steady mind,
    And who is a knower of Brahman;
    Such a person abides in Brahman.


  • A person whose mind is unattached to sensual pleasures,
    Who discovers the joy of the Self,
    And whose mind is in union with Brahman
    Through meditation, enjoys eternal bliss.


  • Pleasures derived from the contact of senses
    With their objects are verily the source of misery,
    And have a beginning and an end.
    The wise, O Arjuna, do not rejoice in sensual pleasures.


  • One who is able to withstand
    The impulse of lust and anger before death
    Is a yogi, and a happy person.


  • One who finds happiness with the Self,
    Who rejoices the Self within,
    And who is illuminated by the Self-knowledge;
    Such a yogi becomes one with Brahman
    And attains supreme nirvana.


  • Seers whose sins are destroyed,
    Whose doubts have been dispelled by knowledge,
    Whose disciplined minds are attached with the Self,
    And who are engaged in the welfare of all beings
    Attain Supreme Brahman.


  • A Self-realized person
    Who is free from lust and anger,
    And who has subdued the mind and senses
    Wasily attains nirvana.


  • Renouncing sense enjoyments;
    Fixing the eyes and mind at the midbrows;
    Equalizing the breath moving through the nostrils


  • With senses, mind, and intellect under control;
    Having liberation as the prime goal;
    Free from lust, anger, and fear;
    Such a sage is verily liberated.


  • The one who knows Me
    As the enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities,
    As the great Lord of all the worlds,
    And as the friend of all beings, attains peace.

    This is the end of Chapter V of the Bhagavad Gita
    Entitled "Karma-Samnyasa-Yoga,"
    Or "The Yoga of Renunciation of Action"